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If you see your first line below, you have until midnight this Friday to post it and a second line!Remember, stick to your original line!No changes!

I’d also like to invite you all to hop on over to Lust in Time, a really sexy blog place. I’ll be hanging out there for most of the week beginning today.And there are books to be had!So come on by, introduce yourself, and hang out. I think you’ll really dig it.

Also, the second round of American Title V is underway! http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle3.php

Go vote!I did.Multiple times, (hint hint Dead People).

1. The culinary Casanova was at it again.

2. Even after he was dead, my father’s obsession with magic continued to color my life.

3. Thick clouds of steam puffed out of manhole covers and sewer grates, making it extra hard for Henry to see while driving in the dark.

4. “You want me to do what?” Ainsley asked, nearly choking on her tea at her mother’s announcement.

5. I wish alcohol didn’t exist.

6. The mansion loomed eerily through the swirling mist, a sinister shadow against the backdrop of a storm darkened sky.

7. It was going to be a dark and stormy night once Hurricane Lex stopped flirting with the coast and got his hands down Savannah’s pants.

8. Sin in stilettos hunted him.

9. The piercing pain in her chest grew worse, but she couldn’t stop running.

10. I squeezed the trigger, the noise of the gun deafening in the confined space of the elevator.

11. Kudzu ran rampant along the hillsides of the Ozarks as it stretched its leafy tendrils engulfing everything in its path, choking out the native plants.

12. Traveling through time hurts, at least for the broker.

13. His life consisted of death.

14. “That man would have taken you off my hands had you shown one iota of intelligence.”

15. Showing up to host a top-rated morning drive-time radio show nursing the mother of all hangovers Shepard Stein could handle, carrying on a coherent conversation with a husky voiced, sexy-as-hell sounding listener was going to cost him.

16. The man slouched on the edge of the bed, his fingers clutching the deadly syringe hidden in his jacket pocket.

19. Seven lockers down, my boyfriend was making out with Cheryl, the way-too-perky head cheerleader.

20. Sometimes even a bounty hunter needed a night off, especially one on the hunt for a wayward Gypsy prince.

21. Nadia Reynolds’ cheatin’ SOB of a husband had dumped her for a twenty-something with plastic tits, telling Nadia he didn’t find her attractive any longer.

22. Sitting in a graffiti-smeared cell on a Sunday afternoon wasn’t what Molly Hicks would call a good way to end a weekend.

23. Silence in the idling Cadillac grew as stale as the gunpowder in the air.

24. It was feeding time and humans were the only thing on the menu.

25. Looking back, my mid-life crisis began on a Tuesday in March, right there on aisle twelve of the local supermarket between the laxatives and the condoms.

26. Megan Trent jerked out of a deep sleep at the sound of her clock radio turning on and off by itself in a rapid beat of white noise and eerie silence.

27. Blind dates were the work of the devil, and Presley Gordon’s best friend was the devil’s apprentice.

28. She was going to die.

29. I wobbled into my apartment, legs wide, as if I’d spent the last seven hours on a horse.

30. How could her friend bring her to such a barbaric event?

31. Jill tried to stand straighter, though the handcuffs bit into her wrists.

32. The best thing about being an heiress â€“ the low expectations.

33. Only a few cars remained outside “The Hood,” the Sacramento dance club Bryn Donovon and her best friend Christine Lucas had decided to try out along with a bunch of other college kids.

34. Ephraim MacNeill would kill anyone who stood in his way.

35. It may sound odd, but sometimes moments in life seem to have a distinct smell.

36. Jackson Taylor’s toes clenched as he came abruptly awake, the left side of his body shivering.

37. “Zeus has summoned you.”

38. “What do you mean I’m not on your list?”

39. It came to Nick Holloway, gradually, that he was lying on cold, hard concrete.

40. Her limp hands distended toward the small waves and then she went under.

41. Ghostly images floated before her eyes as the light over Sandie’s head flared and went out.

42. Darkness did not fall gently this day.

43. Lacey knew the moment she opened her eyes that something was wrong.

44. He brought four items to their first date: a spray of orange roses, because he knew they were her favorite flower; a duffle bag containing a change of clothing; three condoms to capture any stray DNA; and a freshly sharpened hunting knife.

45. That’s where the body is.

46. The warmth of the desert vanished under a shroud of bone-chilling twilight.

47. The man holding the gun to her head didn’t know what she was capable of.

48. Cold trembling fingers reached out to trace the letters engraved on the headstone, the chilly marble slab the only tangible link to the family Jolene still missed.

49. “Who—What—oh God!” Susan shouted, bolting up in bed.

50. Grace Carlton cocked the rifle and lodged it against her shoulder.

54. She expected the ragged skeletons that thundered through the orchard on their will o’ the wisp chargers, expected the slow parade of pale eyed ladies with their gossamer hair and butterfly wings, expected even the raven with the broken tail feather that flew among them, darting and swooping through their insubstantial forms to send them whisking skyward like so much smoke, but the heavy hand on her shoulder, the warm breath tickling her ear and the soft, masculine voice whispering “Jane” â€“ these were the trappings of nightmares, the first indication that her life was about to change for the worse.

55. The only super natural thing in this salt-water town is the crazy lady on Center Street who claims she can predict the future.

56. You knew Maudie Cooper was really dead when you read her funeral invite listed in the Boggy Bayou Chronicle, “The oldest family run newspaper in Louisiana,” or so they say.

57. I hissed when I saw it, my gut coiling, hide crawling in alarm.

58. The young prince was going to die.

59. If she’d been a bad girl when she had the chance, she probably wouldn’t be dying right now.

60. “I am the Keeper of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell.”

61. The hate mail started Monday morning.

62. Guilty or not, Leonardo faced a death sentence.

63. A lone figure stood in the shadows of an abandoned warehouse, watching.

64. A large eye gawked at Mae Simon.

65. I had boarded the boat for Hades.

66. My name is Isadora Macleod and I am haunted.

67. “He’s dying.”

68. Mardi Gras was in full celebration in New Orleans, but Alexander Xavier Montclair, one of the most eligible bachelors in the Queen City social circles, and by far the most handsome, found himself in very cold, very wintery, Charleston on a business trip.

69. A handâ€“oh God, she hoped it was a handâ€“gripped her ankle like a vise and tugged.

70. “Oh, hell,” Brit Roberts snapped when the ringing phone on her kitchen wall stopped her in her tracks at seven AM.

71. The fair crowd trickled in, trapping the Alabama mug between tightly pressed bodies, and Liberty Belle Tipton figured a whisper of air would have to fight for freedom.

72. “What do you mean, ‘You can’t be alone with me?'”

73. I will not bore you with the myriad details of precisely how my situation came to pass, and the various indignities of my day-to-day-existence.

74. “Have you ever had sex in an elevator?”

75. So very close, Nate Benson thought to himself, trying hard to keep his mind on the purchase contract he was proofing.

76. The blood on her hands trickled down between shaky fingers.

77. A political fundraiser was the last place to find Benicio Alvarez, so why was her ex in attendance?

78. “Even Jane Eyre found her Mr. Rochester.”

79. They had been in the interrogation room for twelve hours straight.

80. The Lord of Harmeswood was a madman and a murderer, and Alexandrina Whitsett was headed straight for his house.

Blind dates were the work of the devil, and Presley Gordon’s best friend was the devil’s apprentice. Oh, she might look innocent enough with those soulful eyes and that gentle demeanor, but Presley knew better.

He brought four items to their first date: a spray of orange roses, because he knew they were her favorite flower; a duffle bag containing a change of clothing; three condoms to capture any stray DNA; and a freshly sharpened hunting knife.

With anticipation fizzing through his veins””as effervescent as the finest batch of imported champagne””he plowed through the sprinkler mist dampening the walkway and took the steep steps to her porch two at a time.

The Lord of Harmeswood was a madman and a murderer, and Alexandrina Whitsett was headed straight for his house.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true — she and her brother, James, were returning from a weekend house party in Kent, and were about to drive past Harmeswood’s ancient moldering pile, but even that was too close for comfort.

It was going to be a dark and stormy night once Hurricane Lex stopped flirting with the coast and got his hands down Savannah’s pants. Teijon didn’t need Goodnight, Atlanta’s weather girl to tell him that, though.

The man slouched on the edge of the bed, his fingers clutching the deadly syringe hidden in his jacket pocket. Despite the timpani drum pounding in his chest and echoing in his ears, his face was expressionless.

Claire, last year a few of the judges critiqued, but not all of them. I didn’t ask the first round judge to crit. It’s time consuming and doing 20 lines would have been asking a lot. Once we get down to culling 5 lines a week I’ll ask the judges but it’s up to them if they want to take the time.

All of that said, I hope they do, I really enjoyed that aspect of the contest!

Looking back, my mid-life crisis began on a Tuesday in March, right there on aisle twelve of the local supermarket between the laxatives and the condoms. That’s the day I confronted an assortment of tampon boxes and wondered if my diminishing egg production warranted the forty-eight count economy size.

Ephraim MacNeill would kill anyone who stood in his way. Still not believing his luck at locating Elizabeth’s current place of imprisonment, he feared the rumor a ruse, or worse””a calculated attempt to draw him into the spider’s web.

Only a few cars remained outside “The Hood,” the Sacramento dance club Bryn Donovon and her best friend Christine Lucas had decided to try out along with a bunch of other college kids. Bryn pulled down her skirt and adjusted her blouse to make sure she was covered.

A hand”“oh God, she hoped it was a hand”“gripped her ankle like a vise and tugged. Tina clung to the rope for dear life and winced when its nylon thread chafed her leather gloves, but her grit and determination was no match for the sheer force pulling her downward.

“They have a two-hundred thirty year head start and I thought I could find them?” Finn macc LiamÃ³r bit back an oath and the urge to hurl the fragile leather-bound journal across the quiet reading room of the Ruehl Institute in San Francisco where Niell and he had buried themselves for the past week.

A political fundraiser was the last place to find Benicio Alvarez, so why was her ex in attendance? Standing in the lobby of the ultra-exclusive restaurant, Veronica Thompson prayed he was a figment of her lustful imagination, but unfortunately he wasn’t.

Jackson Taylor’s toes clenched as he came abruptly awake, the left side of his body shivering. A soft weight held his shoulder down, the feel of a woman’s curves pressing hard against his chest, keeping the right side delectably warm.

The young prince was going to die. When the angry mob of outlaws and outcasts finally realized who it was that had fallen into their clutches, they would tear the young nobleman to shreds, and there was nothing Shallah could do to prevent it.

The fair crowd trickled in, trapping the Alabama mug between tightly pressed bodies, and Liberty Belle Tipton figured a whisper of air would have to fight for freedom. She watched Benton’s finest kick up a dust on the runway as the sizzle of cake batter meeting hot grease filled the cramped space behind her at the popular Funnel Cake and Cola stand.

Karin,
Thank you so much for this contest. I just realized I changed the first line of my entry and should be disqualified. I must have picked up the wrong story when I re-posted. I am sorry and will step down, according to the rules. Thanks again.
Carol

“Oh, hell,” Brit Roberts snapped when the ringing phone on her kitchen wall stopped her in her tracks at seven AM.Already late leaving for work, she turned away and reached for the doorknob, then paused at the second ring.

Her limp hands distended toward the small waves and then she went under. McKee allowed the rope to pull her deeper, but it didn’t feel like the first time, it didn’t feel like the second time, it didn’t feel like part of the test.

As one who didn’t make the cut, I have to admit I’m bummed. But c’est la vie. Admittedly I’d like to know why my line didn’t catch the judge’s eye, but I can understand how time consuming twenty crits would me.

Congrats to this round’s finalists. It’ll be interesting to watch the remainder of the contest.